Potato and Egg Cake

I'm a bit of a procrastinator this year in regards to Thanksgiving. I have absolutely no idea where we are going or what I am cooking if I do indeed host. A large part of the procrastination has to do with the weather. West Virginia weather in November is really unpredictable. Some years it's in the 60's and other years it's snowing. Plus my in-laws live in the mountains so their weather is even more unpredictable than ours. So all in all I have no idea what we are doing for Thanksgiving this year, yet. I'm hoping that by next week I will be able to figure out if I'm hosting or not. Then the debate about what to fix starts, with my kids insisting on Cornish game hens, my in-laws preferring turkey and we not wanting either. Honestly I prefer the sides and dessert, I have never been a big fan of turkey.

I have been trying to reduce the amount of snacks that my kids eat. If given the option they will only eat snacks and never eat an actual dinner all week. So to combat this habit I have been reducing their snacks and making dinners that they are likely to at least try. The following is a recipe for Potato and Egg Cake, which is kid friendly and makes delicious leftovers.

Adapted from the Food Network Magazine.

Potato and Egg Cake

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
• 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 4 ounces sliced provolone cheese
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced jarred roasted red peppers, drained and patted dried
• 3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Add a rimmed baking sheet to the oven to preheat.
3. Fill saucepan with enough water to cover potatoes.
4. Add potatoes to boiling water over high heat.
5. Let cook until potatoes are soft, 15-20 minutes.
6. Butter an 8 inch cake pan.
7. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the breadcrumbs.
8. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter and the parmesan to the potatoes, mash.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Add in the beaten eggs, slowly and mash.
11. Spread half to the mixture to the buttered cake pan.
12. Top with provolone, peppers, and parsley.
13. Make sure to keep an inch border all around the edge.
14. Top with the rest of the potato mixture, and smooth top.
15. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs.
16. Grate the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over top.
17. Place the cake pan on the heated baking sheet and baked for 15-20 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.
18. Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife.
19. Unmold and let the cake rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Tips:

• The version from the picture is made with gluten free panko. Gluten free panko is a great substitute for regular bread crumbs and I use it a lot in recipes. 
• The gluten free version takes a little longer to brown, approximately 5 minutes. 
• If you aren't a fan of provolone this would also work with Havarti or swiss. 

Savory Smoked Salmon and Potato Chip Brunch Muffins

I love breakfast foods. There is something comforting and great about a giant stack of pancakes, whether they are eaten at 6 in the morning or 6 at night. Breakfast also always reminds me of my mother. Growing up weekday mornings where always rushed, but weekend breakfast were perfect. My mother would cook, we would talk and everything seemed right in the world regardless of what was going on outside of our family unit. Now as an adult I try to carry on this tradition with my own family. One of my family's favorite breakfast foods is smoked salmon, they love it with eggs, omelets, you name it. Today I tried a new recipe for Savory Smoked Salmon and Potato Chip Brunch Muffins from the April 2014 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes, 25 minutes of which is active, and makes 12 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. Since I was making this for my family and not myself I used regular all-purpose flour. I chose to use parchment to line the muffins as suggested by the magazine and I found that my muffins took 25 minutes at 350. I turned down the heat to make sure they browned without overcooking.

Since I couldn't eat this recipe I called in my guinea pigs/family for their opinions. My husband really loved these muffins. He said that the taste of the dill and salmon worked well together and they were a nice size to grab out of the fridge for a snack. My oldest son is a huge smoked salmon fan and was very pleased with these muffins as an after school snack. I am a fan of any recipe that uses a muffin pan, I love my muffin pan. Baking and cooking in a muffin pan is a great way to have portion control and makes for easy snacks for kids to be able to grab without help.

For the recipe go to Savory Smoked Salmon and Potato Chip Brunch Muffins.

Cinnamon Raisin Strata

Cinnamon Raisin Strata

I don't sit still well. I never have. If I don't have a project or something to do, I get bored. Very, very bored. I also fidget all the time. I am one of those people that is always tapping their foot or fingers. It drives my husband nuts. He loves to take naps in the middle of the day, but I just can't do it. The moment I try to lay down I think of something that needs to be done. At any given time I have at least 3 projects that I am working on. Today I decided that I needed to make new covers for the pillows in our living room. This weekend I started re-upholstering our chairs. Last week I painted the bookcase. My brain has the habit of always seeing what needs to be updated or fixed. There are many days that I wish that I was more like my husband. It would be nice if I could sit down and relax occasionally. Cooking is one of the many ways that I distract myself. Last week I tried a new recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Strata from the Eggbeaters website.

Ritter Park Huntington, WV

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 9 1/2 hours of total time (including fridge time), 10 minutes of which is active and makes 9 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I made my own cinnamon raisin bread from scratch. Homemade bread is always better than store bought. I allowed the bread to sit in the egg mixture overnight and then cooked it for a little over an hour. I like to have the outside of my strata to turn slightly crispy and brown and cooking it for a little longer than the recipe suggested allowed for this to happen.

Water Fountain Ritter Park, Huntington, WV

I like that this recipe is lower in fat. Per serving it has 9 grams of fat and 13 grams of protein, making it a nice breakfast option. My youngest was a big fan of this recipe. However, I would suggest adding vanilla and more maple syrup, especially if you like your bread dishes sweet.

For the recipe go to Cinnamon Raisin Strata.

Cinnamon Raisin Strata

Recipe Type: Breakfast

Summary:

A very easy breakfast recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Strata. It has 13 grams of protein per serving.

Preparation Time: 0h, 10m

Total Time: 9h, 30m

Yield: Serves 9

Everyday Food Basic Bread Stuffing

I love to cook large holiday meals. With a very large family on my mom's side of the family I grew up thinking that holidays were about making huge amounts of food. I learned to cook at a very young age and I remembering helping my mom in the kitchen as far back as I can remember, especially during the holidays. I have never been a big fan of turkey or ham, no matter how hard I have tried. I find them both bland and boring. However, I love holiday sides. One of my favorite side dishes during Thanksgiving and Christmas is stuffing and I was interested when the November issue of Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for Basic Bread Stuffing, which looked simple and perfect for entertaining.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes a total of one hour, 35 minutes being active and makes 8 servings. All the ingredients were simple and easy to find at my local grocery store. I make my own chicken stock, which added time to my prep, but was worth the effort. Since I don't salt my stock I had to add more salt to the stuffing than if I had bought the store bought variety. The original magazine recipe had add-ins for walnut-herb and chorizo-almond stuffing. The online recipe leaves these out, but any number of add-ins would work. I used smoked oysters for my add-in, since my husband requested it specifically for Thanksgiving. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I like how simple this recipe is and how little effort it takes to prepare. Siince the basic recipe has so few ingredients, it makes a great base to add whatever other ingredients you wish. I love making homemade stuffing and adding personal touches like smoked oysters, fresh herbs or an unusual meat. Overall, a great versitile recipe that can easily be modified to add desired additional ingredients.

For the recipe go to Basic Bread Stuffing.

Saveur Potato Salad

I love homemade potato salad. Not the store bought potato salad that my mother would bring home with the very greasy fried chicken from the grocery store. For years I wouldn't touch any type of potato salad thinking that it would all taste like that store bought version. Luckily, I discovered how delicious homemade potato salad can be and have rarely bought the store variety since. I was excited when Saveur magazine recently had a recipe for Potato Salad, which looked simple and delicious.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It makes 4-6 servings and takes approximately a half an hour to prepare. All the ingredients are basic and I was easily able to find them all at my local grocery store. To save time I hard-boiled my eggs in the morning. I find it easier to peel hard-boiled eggs once they have sat in the fridge. My potatoes were on the large side so instead of quartering them I cut them into 1-inch pieces before boiling. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My family really enjoyed this recipe. It was simple and had a great taste. I loved how easy it was to prepare and how well the tastes of the red onion and pickle relish balanced together. This is one of the best straightforward potato salad recipes I have tried in a while and I will definitely make it again in the future.

For the recipe go to Potato Salad.

Taste of Home Italian Sausage Quiche

Growing up I loved eggs. My mom would make me sunny side up eggs and toast before school every morning and I was ecstatic. When I moved out on my own, my eggs never tasted as good as my moms and I stopped making them as frequently. However, I never stopped making one of my favorite egg dishes, quiche. I love just about every type of quiche, it's delicious. The October issue of Taste of Home magazine had a recipe for Italian Sausage Quiche, which looked perfect for my love of eggs.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. The prep time is 30 minutes, with 35 minutes of bake time. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, and I had the majority already in my pantry cupboard. I was unable to find bulk Italian sausage, so I used regular Italian sausage and took it out of the casing, adding about 5 minutes to my prep time. The magazine recommends using disposable gloves when working with the jalapenos, I never do this step and have never had any problems, just make sure not to touch your eyes etc. Approximately half-way through the cooking time I had to tent the crust in order to prevent burning, I would recommend doing this step. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband and I enjoyed this quiche recipe. I appreciated how easy the prep was and how I had leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I love how versatile quiche is in that it can easily be used as either a dinner entree or a breakfast dish. This recipe is no exception and I was able to use it for multiple meals. My two boys were skeptical when I first served this recipe, but loved the recipe for breakfast the next day. Overall, an easy and delicious dish.

For the recipe go to Italian Sausage Quiche.

Everyday Food Creamy Macaroni Salad

Growing up I never liked any 'typical" picnic/bbq food. Potato salad always tasted too sweet or full of mayonaise and I was more likely to eat dessert than hamburgers or hotdogs. As I grew older I tried a larger variety of foods and fell in love with macaroni salad. Not the store bought type, good old homemade macaroni salad with pickles and eggs. However, as I got older and the metabolism of my teenage years began to wear off after two kids I started looking for healthier alternatives to my favorite recipes. Recently, Everyday Food magazine had  a recipe for Creamy Macaroni Salad utlitlizng yogurt to reduce the fat, making a healthier version of a household favorite.

This recipe goes together very quickly. There are 11 ingredients, including salt and pepper and the total cooking time is approximately 25 minutes. The majority of the prep is from the cooking of the pasta and the hard boiled eggs, which can both easily be made prior to the recipe and refridgerated. I followed the recipe as stated, except I used full-fat plain yogurt, instead of low-fat as suggested by the recipe.  Other people might have better luck finding low-fat plain yogurt, but my local grocery stores only stock whole-fat plain yogurt in the big containers. Additionally, I utilized my homemade dill pickles for the chopped dill pickles, which tasted delicious.

The one modification I suggest for the recipe is to allow the macaroni salad to sit in the fridge until completely chilled before serving. I served the dish only partially cold and I think it would have been even better chilled. That being said, my husband and I enjoyed this dish. It doesn't taste exactly like a traditional homemade macaroni salad, but it is much lower in fat, using low-fat yogurt this recipe has 210 calories and 5g of fat. The traditional recipe contains 317 calories and 11g of fat, so a large difference in fat and calorie content between the two. A great recipe to cut down on the fat of traditional summertime salad recipes.

This recipe is currently unavailable, but can be found on page 104 of the July/August issue of Everyday Food magazine.

Bon Appetit Onion Frittata

My oldest son was picky about eating eggs for the last 3 years. All of a sudden in the last couple of months he has decided that scrambled eggs are his favorite food and requests them almost everyday. While, my husband and I like scrambled eggs, they aren't our favorite way of preparing eggs on a regular basis, so I have been looking for a compromise. The May issue of Bon Appetit magazine had a recipe for Onion Frittata, which looked like an egg dish that my whole family would enjoy.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. I had to go to multiple stores in order to find fresh basil, sage and rosemary, however, the remainder of the ingredients were easy to find. I think it's another sign that I need to start my own herb garden next year. The prep for this recipe is very easy and the total prep and cooking time was approximately 25 minutes. I used vidalia onions for the sliced onions, since they are in season and a family favorite. I followed the recipe as stated and made no modifications. The one change that I did make to the original recipe was the cooking time, my fritata took closer to 15 minutes to fully set.

My five year old absolutely loved this recipe. He ate multiple servings for dinner and the leftovers the following day. My husband and I liked this recipe, but I felt that it needed more salt and pepper added to the seasoning. The fresh herbs provided a nice complexity, however, I actually think that the recipe could benefit from more flavor from additional onion or garlic. This is a very family friendly recipe and could easily be adapted for a variety of ingredients.

For the recipe go to Bon Appetit Onion Frittata.

Smoked Salmon Frittata

Last week I had scheduled in my menu plan to make asparagus frittata from a magazine recipe. However, when I opened the fridge for dinner, I discovered that my asparagus had gone off, so I had to think of an alternative at the last minute. After looking through my pantry and fridge I put together the ingredients for a smoked salmon frittata.

I didn't make any exact measurements, but the ingredients were as follows:

• smoked salmon
• eggs
• cream
• whole milk
• kalamata olives
• onion
• salt
• black pepper
• cream cheese

The recipe turned out very well. The only thing I would change would be to use less than the half package of cream cheese, the taste was too rich and I would add 3/4 to the whole package of smoked salmon (I only used half). I might add more than the 10 olives as well, as they added saltiness and tang. I baked my frittata in a cake pan, I prefer to do them that way, the eggs dont burn as easily. All in all a great new way to use some extra pantry and fridge staples!